Eastern’s National Pan-Hellenic Council will be hosting “Meet the Greeks” from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday at the Mellin steps outside the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Meet the Greeks is an event that is hosted every year to showcase the African American fraternities and sororities who belong to NPHC, also known as the Divine Nine.

Fraternities and sororities such as Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta and Phi Beta Sigma will be in attendance, using this event as an opportunity to help Eastern’s students get to know them.

Many of these fraternities and sororities will also be using this event to perform their “steps” and “strolls” for the student body.

Stepping and strolling are forms of percussive, synchronized dance that originate from historically African American fraternities and sororities.

These dance forms can be dated back to hundreds of years ago in African history, when Africans danced together in circles to symbolize unity and strength.

According to Percy Williams, a senior sociology student and member of Alpha Phi Alpha, stepping and strolling works as an unifying force for the fraternities and sororities under the Divine Nine.

“It brings us all together,” Williams said. “It’s something that’s important to each and every one of us.”

When stepping, a fraternity or sorority will perform a dance while creating a beat with their body, whether that be by clapping, hitting their thighs, stomping or anything else that could help create that beat.

When it comes to strolling, the fraternity or sorority will dance along to a song, matching their movements with the beat from the song.

“Every one of us has our own special song, special strolls, and we look forward to doing that for everyone in the student body,” Williams said.

Every fraternity and sorority has specific dance moves that they incorporate into their strolls.

Ke’Ara Cherry, a senior majoring in computer and information technology, is the president of NPHC and a member of Zeta Phi Beta.

She said that the dance moves each organization performs helps set the different fraternities and sororities apart.

“Everyone has something different in their strolls,” Cherry said. “It makes you able to differentiate between them and be able to tell whose signs are whose.”

Emmanuel Nelson, a junior sport management student and member of Phi Beta Sigma, also said that an organization’s stroll helps set them apart.

“Each organization, though their strolls are very similar, they have their own uniqueness,” Nelson said. “When we all come together, we all show that uniqueness and I think that’s pretty interesting and a lot of people like it.”

Not being able to host Meet the Greeks last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic has made this event even much more exciting for the members of the Divine Nine fraternities and sororities.

Alanna Weems, a senior majoring in human services program administration, is the president of Sigma Gamma Rho. She said that she is very excited to partake in Meet the Greeks this year.

“I am very excited about Meet the Greeks because we did not get to have one last year,” Weems said. “I’m looking forward to seeing all of the Divine Nine performances because I know we are all going to kill it!”

Cherry said that she and the rest of the NPHC executive board has been doing a lot of hard work in preparation for Meet the Greeks, so she is also really looking forward to it.

“I’m just really happy to see all of the organizations be able to perform,” Cherry said. “I just want everyone to know that our presence is still on campus.”

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez can be reached at 581-2812 or at knmoralesrodriguez@eiu.edu.